Interactive channel

ABSTRACT

A channel distribution system has a channel carrying content, and an interactive receiver which receives content and provides to a user. The interactive receiver has an interface to allow the user to interact with the content. The channel also includes a broadcast label superimposed on the content which invites the user to interact with the content. The label includes an interactive link with a digital instruction containing handling information for the interactive receiver device. The handling information tells the interactive receiver how to handle a user interaction coinciding with the label.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/600,585 filed on Oct. 14, 2019, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/485,999 filed on Sep. 15, 2014, now U.S.Pat. No. 10,448,217, which claims the benefit of priority under 35 USC119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Nos. 61/877,995 filed onSep. 15, 2013 and 61/922,824 filed on Jan. 1, 2014. The contents of theabove applications are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to aninteractive channel and a system and method for providing such achannel.

Radio receivers (RRs) are present at home, work, portable use, cars. RRsdeliver music, news, radio programs on a variety of topics. They areeasy to operate and present an almost standard interface in terms ofuser-controlled functionality [ranging from channel control, volumecontrol, sound quality controls, mute button (sometimes coupled to aphone) and more].

Some RRs are based on broadcast (FM, AM (MW, LW, SW), DAB, HD, SatelliteRadio etc.). Some are satellite based. Some are Internet based.

RRs are based on the idea of a channel that presents sound content thatis continuously broadcast over the channel. The channel is physicallyrealized as either broadcast on the airways via antennas, broadcast froma satellite, via Cable, Internet content that is generated on behalf ofthe channel and other known means. RRs may contain commercial portionsor segments such as advertisements, public announcements, emergencynotifications, health alerts and other segments that are not consideredas ordinary channel content such as music, talk shows, and other radioprograms.

Broadcast is typically one-to-many, so that changes in the channel wouldbe applied to all of the viewers or listeners. On one-to-one systems itis possible to have interactive channels such as that shown in FIG. 1.Well known in telephony, an interactive system, typically hosted on aserver 10 asks a user via an audio channel to select a key—speech bubble12—and the key is used to select further flow of the channel via acommunication device 14. The audio flow is changed at the server 10 inresponse to the user interaction. In a one-to many cases, such operationis impossible as all users would receive the program flow based on asingle user's interaction.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,628,928 provides for multiple mobile units, eachincluding a receiver for receiving radio broadcasts, a GPS system fordetermining the location of the vehicle, and a wireless transmitter fortransmitting interactive radio control signals to a network operationcenter. While listening to a radio broadcast, the subscriber selectsprogram segments of interest by pressing an interactive radio controlbutton on the mobile unit. The program segments are, for example,individual musical selections, advertisements or the like. In response,the mobile unit transmits the carrier frequency of the radio broadcast,the date and time, the geographical location of the vehicle, and asubscriber identification signal to the network operation center usingthe wireless transmitter.

The network operations center determines the identity of the selectedprogram segment based upon the information transmitted from the mobileunit. Then, the network operation center accesses databases providinginformation pertaining to the selected program segment and provides theinformation to the subscriber via the Internet, such that theinformation can later be retrieved by the subscriber using a home oroffice computer or the like. By providing feedback via the Internet, thesubscriber need not make decisions immediately regarding purchase ofgoods or services while listening to a radio broadcast. Moreover, a vastamount of information may be provided to the subscriber facilitating thepurchase of goods or services or the like.

International Patent Application Publication No. WO2001001331 disclosesa technology that embeds identifiers in an audio segment (e.g. radiobroadcast) and performs certain actions in response to a user reactingto that identifier.

If a user hears a song they want to record and keep, they press theCapture button while the song is playing. In response, the radio devicedecodes a watermark embedded in the music, and thereby knows theidentity of the music. The radio then makes a wireless transmissionidentifying the user and the desired song. A local repeater networkpicks up the wireless signal and relays it (e.g., by wirelessrebroadcast, by modem, or other communication medium) to a musicclearinghouse. The clearinghouse charges the user a nominal fee (e.g.,via a pre-arranged credit card), and queues the music for download to apredetermined location associated with the user.

The instruction may be entered by voice, GUI, etc., and dispatched fromthe appliance to the clearinghouse, which can then complete thetransaction in accordance with pre-stored information (e.g., credit cardaccount number, mailing address, etc.).

U.S. Pat. No. 8,160,930 discloses, in one example, a user in a vehiclelistening to music, who wishes to request more information about themusic, or wishes to purchase a CD of the playing music. In the example,the song “Candy” is playing on the radio. The display on a telematiccontrol unit shows “Candy Everybody . . . ” after related information isreceived from main system via the network and the gateway. The user canrequest more information, by either pressing a button or uttering akeyword or phrase. For example, the user says “song information”. Themicrophone receives these words, after which telematic control unitdigitizes the received words and delivers them to the main system forvoice processing. Alternatively, the content may have already beendownloaded and is simply played to the user. The telematic control uniteither responds aurally and/or displays some relevant textualinformation that is received from the main system. The user can furtherrequest to purchase say a CD by either pressing a button or uttering akeyword. Once the user says “Purchase”, the telematic control unit sendsa request to the server via the network. The server processes therequest to purchase the CD by contacting the CD production company usingthe user's financial service company to complete the transaction. Thetelematic control unit verbally responds or displays a confirmation, forexample: “Your confirmation code is CM1234. The CD will be sent to youraddress on file”.

In another example in the same patent, a user listens to anadvertisement for a sandwich restaurant, the user can purchase a subfrom the sandwich restaurant by either pressing a button or uttering akeyword, for example: “Buy jumbo club”. The request is sent to theserver via the Internet, and a telematic control unit responds ordisplays: “The nearest subway location is about 0.7 miles off exit 167and has a drive-through. Would you like to buy your club sandwich atthat location for $1.99?” The user can then purchase the sandwich, byeither pressing a button or uttering “Purchase”. Once the user selectsto purchase the sandwich, a request is sent to the server via thenetwork, which processes the request and returns an order number. Thetelematic control unit displays or responds: “Your order number is 57”.

Broadcast radio stations, such as FM radio stations, may use a systemknown as a Radio Data System (RDS) or Radio Broadcast Data System (RBDSin US), both referred to herein as “RDS,” to transmit supplementalinformation corresponding to their normal radio programming, e.g.,music, talk, news, etc. In particular, RDS is intended for applicationto FM sound broadcasts between 87.5 MHz to 108.0 MHz. For stereophonicbroadcast, the RDS subcarrier is locked to third harmonic of the 19 KHzpilot tone with overall tolerance of ±6 Hz. For monophonic broadcast,the RDS subcarrier is 57 KHz±6 Hz. The data message rate is constrainedto 1.1875 Kbits/sec as defined in standards for RBDS (i.e., NRSC-4-A,National Radio Systems Committee (NRSC) jointly sponsored by ConsumerElectronics Association (CEA) and National Association of Broadcasters(NAB)) and for RDS (i.e., IEC/CENELEC EN:62106:2001, InternationalElectrotechnical Commission (IEC) and European Committee forElectrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC)).

Broadcast radio stations transmit their programming and the supplementalinformation in the RDS format as distinct signals multiplexed onto asingle carrier. Radio receivers having RDS decoders, such as thoseincluded with some wireless communications devices or those in avehicle, permit a user to listen to the transmitted programming and viewthe corresponding supplemental information on a display. Specifically,generally-known RDS improves functionality for FM receivers by providingbasic RDS information such as Program Identification, Program Service,and Automatic tuning as well as Open Data Application (ODA) for suchservices as traffic message channel, emergency warning systems, radiotext, and enhanced radio paging, etc.

Attempts have been made to extend RDS beyond providing a standardprotocol for several types of supplemental information transmitted bythe broadcast radio stations, such as the identity of the particularradio station, the type of programming, and text information such as thename of an artist and/or song. For example, some specifications provideadditional messages that can control portions of the supplementalinformation, such as the display of the radio text information. Inanother example, some services have been developed to provide content tothe receiver using a data connection, where the content is synchronizedwith the radio programming via the data message.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present embodiments may provide a voice, or video, channel baseddevice for data exploration and integration, and content channels,including video and voice channels, that allow for user interaction tomodify the play, and provide sufficient flexibility to allow for lastminute or real time adjustments to the interactivity provided. Thepresent embodiments may provide world wide web style hotlinks to theworld of streaming audio and video.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present inventionthere is provided a channel distribution system comprising:

a channel carrying content; and

an interactive receiver device for receiving the content and presentingto a user, the interactive receiver device comprising an interface forallowing a user to interact with the content;

wherein the channel further comprises a broadcast label superimposed onthe content, the label inviting the user to interact with the content,the label being combined with an interactive link, the interactive linkcomprising a digital instruction to the interactive receiver device, thedigital instruction containing operating information to operate theinteractive receiver device in response to a user interaction coincidingwith the label, the operating being combined with continuing contentplay.

In an embodiment, silent periods are added to a channel for subsequentaddition of content to the respective channel.

In an embodiment, additional content is inserted into a channel having asilent period, the inserting being at a time prior to the silent period,playing of content of the channel between the inserting and the silentperiod being delayed.

An embodiment may comprise a user client provided to recipients of thedistributed channel, the client being configured to control play of thedistributed channel.

In an embodiment, the control of play comprises one member of the groupconsisting of: using channel content to affect further content,directing the channel to deliver internet content, directing the channelto interact with a given communication device, directing the channel tointeract with a given computer, and directing the channel to interactwith a navigational device.

In an embodiment, subsidiary channels are provided alongside a mainchannel for providing user selectable additional content.

In an embodiment, the user client is configured to control content playto pass from a main channel to a corresponding subsidiary channel andfrom a subsidiary channel to a corresponding main channel.

In an embodiment, the user client is configured to control content playto pass between two subsidiary channels of a shared main channel.

In an embodiment, the user client is configured to return play to a mainchannel at one member of the group consisting of: multiple predeterminedplay positions within channel content, a content play position reachedwhen leaving the channel and a current content play position.

In an embodiment, the user client further comprises a content fastforward control and a content fast back control.

An embodiment may comprise a control to obtain content from Internetaddresses, wherein a list of available internet addresses are providedby one member of the group consisting of being preloaded, being obtainedfrom an indicated location, being provided within a link, and beingobtained from a separate device.

An embodiment may comprise a control to obtain content from Internetaddresses, wherein an internet address is identified followingidentification input from a user.

In an embodiment, internet site content is presented using predeterminedpresentation styles.

In an embodiment, the user client is configured to treat data beingreceived from a smartphone as an additional channel.

In an embodiment, the content is video content and the broadcast labelcomprises a visual invitation.

In an embodiment, the broadcast label comprises a human inaudible soundnotification.

In an embodiment, the inaudible notification is mediated to be providedconditionally to the user.

An embodiment may comprise a recording application for recordinginformation from the environment, the environment including the content,the information identified according to predetermined criteria.

The system may be configured to play back the recorded information.

In an embodiment, the predetermined criteria define contact information,the system being configured to use the recorded information in order tomake contact.

In an embodiment, the operating comprises any of:

placing a telephone call, altering a content play path to temporarilyplay alternative content prior to returning to the channel content,interacting with navigational information, and interacting with anexternal device.

An embodiment may comprise a learning module (LM) configured to trackuser behavior so as to be able to trigger automatic interactions on theuser's behalf.

An embodiment may comprise an operational mode interface for setting anoperational mode to control the automatic actions.

In an embodiment, the interactive receiver device is configured withuser identification for identification of individual users, thereby toseparately track behaviors of multiple users and combinations of users.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provideda channel distribution system comprising:

a main channel carrying content; and

an interactive receiver device for receiving the content and presentingto a user, the interactive receiver device comprising an interface forallowing a user to interact with the content;

wherein the main channel further comprises a broadcast labelsuperimposed on the content, the label inviting the user switch over toa subsidiary channel, the, the subsidiary channel being a channeldedicated to carrying content which is complementary to the main channelcontent.

According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided a channeldistribution system comprising:

a primary content carrying channel;

a secondary content carrying channel wherein content of the secondarycontent carrying channel is related to content of the primarycontent-carrying channel; and

an interactive switching interface comprising labels superimposed on thecontent, and an instruction for switching between the primary contentcarrying channel and the secondary content carrying channel based on auser response to the label.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention there is provideda channel distribution method comprising:

providing content for broadcast in a content channel;

superimposing on the content a broadcast label, the label inviting auser to interact with the content;

providing with the label an interactive link, the interactive linkcomprising a digital instruction for use by an interactive receiverdevice, the digital instruction containing handling information for theinteractive receiver device to indicate to the receiver device how tohandle a user interaction coinciding with the label; and

broadcasting the channel carrying content to multiple recipients.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention there is providedan interactive receiver device for receiving an interactive broadcastcontent channel and presenting the channel to a user, the interactivereceiver device comprising an interface for allowing a user to interactwith the content, the channel comprising a broadcast label superimposedon the content, the label inviting the user to interact with thecontent, the label being combined with an interactive link, theinteractive link comprising a digital instruction to the interactivereceiver device, the digital instruction containing handling informationfor the interactive receiver device to indicate to the receiver devicehow to handle a user interaction coinciding with the label, theinteractive receiver device being configured to play the broadcast labelto the user and to handle the user interaction in accordance with thedigital instruction.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention there is provided achannel distributor comprising:

a distributor unit for distributing at least one channel carryingcontent; the channel distributor being configured to superimpose on thecontent prior to distribution a broadcast label, the label inviting theuser to interact with the content, the label being combined with aninteractive link, the interactive link comprising a digital instructionto an interactive receiver device, the digital instruction containingoperating information to operate the interactive receiver device inresponse to a user interaction coinciding with the label, the operatingbeing combined with continuing content play.

In an embodiment, the distributor unit is configured to distributesubsidiary channels alongside a main channel for providing userselectable additional content.

In an embodiment, the digital instruction enables the user client tocontrol content play to pass from a main channel to a correspondingsubsidiary channel and from a subsidiary channel to a corresponding mainchannel.

In an embodiment, the digital instruction enables the user client tocontrol content play to pass between two subsidiary channels of a sharedmain channel. In an embodiment, the user client is configured to returnplay to a main channel at one member of the group consisting of:multiple predetermined play positions within channel content, a contentplay position reached when leaving the channel and a current contentplay position.

In an embodiment, the set of users listening to the channel consists ofa single user. An embodiment may comprise disabling the continuingbroadcast when there are no users playing the continuing broadcast.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention there is provideda channel distribution system comprising:

a channel carrying content; and

an interactive receiver device for receiving the content and presentingto a user, the interactive receiver device comprising an interface forallowing a user to interact with the content;

wherein the interactive receiver device further comprises anidentification unit configured to identify the content, and provide to auser an identification of said content, the interactive receiver devicefurther configured to provide an interactive link along with saididentification, the interactive link comprising a digital instruction tothe interactive receiver device, to provide additional informationregarding said content upon interaction by said user.

In an embodiment, said content comprises musical content, and saididentification unit is configured to identify said musical content andobtain said additional content based on said identifying.

In an embodiment, said identification system is configured to obtain asample of said content, generate a signature from said sample, andsubmit said signature to a music database for comparison in order toobtain said identification.

In an embodiment, said content is associated with a provider, saididentification of said content comprises identifying said provider, andsaid additional information is made available from said provider.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention there is provideda channel distribution method comprising:

receiving content of a content channel and presenting to a user;

providing a first interactive interface for a user to indicate interestin specific content;

upon receipt of said indicated interest, identifying the content;

providing to said user an identification of said content;

providing a second interface, the second interface including aninteractive link along with said identification, the interactive linkcomprising a digital instruction to provide additional informationregarding said content upon interaction by said user;

upon receipt of said digital instruction, providing said additionalinformation.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and/or scientific terms usedherein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinaryskill in the art to which the invention pertains. Although methods andmaterials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used inthe practice or testing of embodiments of the invention, exemplarymethods and/or materials are described below. In case of conflict, thepatent specification, including definitions, will control. In addition,the materials, methods, and examples are illustrative only and are notintended to be necessarily limiting.

Implementation of the method and/or system of embodiments of theinvention can involve performing or completing selected tasks manually,automatically, or a combination thereof. Moreover, according to actualinstrumentation and equipment of embodiments of the method and/or systemof the invention, several selected tasks could be implemented byhardware, by software or by firmware or by a combination thereof usingan operating system.

For example, hardware for performing selected tasks according toembodiments of the invention could be implemented as a chip or acircuit. As software, selected tasks according to embodiments of theinvention could be implemented as a plurality of software instructionsbeing executed by a computer using any suitable operating system. In anexemplary embodiment of the invention, one or more tasks according toexemplary embodiments of method and/or system as described herein areperformed by a data processor, such as a computing platform forexecuting a plurality of instructions.

Optionally, the data processor includes a volatile memory for storinginstructions and/or data and/or a non-volatile storage, for example, amagnetic hard-disk and/or removable media, for storing instructionsand/or data. Optionally, a network connection is provided as well. Adisplay and/or a user input device such as a keyboard or mouse areoptionally provided as well.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Some embodiments of the invention are herein described, by way ofexample only, with reference to the accompanying drawings. With specificreference now to the drawings in detail, it is stressed that theparticulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrativediscussion of embodiments of the invention. In this regard, thedescription taken with the drawings makes apparent to those skilled inthe art how embodiments of the invention may be practiced.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram illustrating prior art systems for userinteractive audio channels in one-to-one distribution;

FIG. 2 is a simplified diagram showing a user interactive audio or videochannel in a one-to-many or broadcast distribution according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a simplified diagram showing a user interactive audio or videochannel in a one-to-many or broadcast distribution according to a secondembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a further embodiment of thepresent invention, in which an interactive interface is preset for theuser; and

FIG. 5 is a simplified flow chart illustrating operation of theembodiment of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates tointeractive channels and to devices, systems and methods for providingthe same.

An interactive broadcast channel may include content, and superimposedon the content, two separate items, an indicator or label that the useris aware of so he/she knows to interact, and an encoding to tell thecomputer what to do when the user interacts, or what to do withdifferent interactions.

In the present embodiments, the regular radio channel may play a jingleor provide a voice message to the user providing a time window forinteracting. A link is only active during the time window, in otherwords for a limited time after the indication. The embodiments may beviewed as providing an audio or video version of the well-known hotlinkof the world-wide web. The indication may be other than the content itemitself. The prior art is limited to actions that are already present onthe user's computer. The present embodiments have no such limitation,since both the link and the auxiliary content are broadcast and thuscompletely new actions may be defined at any time prior to thebroadcast.

The label is the same for all users, but links may in one embodiment beencoded so as to be activated differently at different receivers.

The channel may include predetermined content or a content sequence thatis not controlled by the user except through use of the interactivelinks as described herein. In addition the user may have preferencesthat are used to assign him/her with a particular channel.

A channel player, for receiving and playing the interactive channel andallowing user interactions via an interface, can be realized physically,as a dedicated device, similar to a radio receiver found at home, or canbe implemented on any existing device having suitable computingabilities, such as a car radio or a smart-phone or as software on acomputer or on a television set, as discussed above.

Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, itis to be understood that the invention is not necessarily limited in itsapplication to the details of construction and the arrangement of thecomponents and/or methods set forth in the following description and/orillustrated in the drawings and/or the Examples. The invention iscapable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out invarious ways.

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 2 illustrates a first embodiment ofthe present invention.

A channel distribution system is here shown as a server 20 and maytransmit audio or video streams as a channel. The stream is typicallyone-to-many in that many users share the single stream, so that allusers share the same stream. This in the embodiment of FIG. 2 thetransmission from the distribution stream over distribution medium 22remains the same for all users. In one too many broadcasting the channelcontent is predefined, so that individual users do not have control overthe content sequence.

The channel may be transmitted from the server 20 over medium 22, whichmay comprise the Internet, wired telephony, wireless telephony,broadcast over the air or cable including optical cable, or satellite,any other suitable medium or some combination thereof.

The channel, which is carrying content, is received at an interactivechannel receiver device, 24, typically a computing device of some kind,such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a notebook ornotepad-type device or a pod or a mobile or cordless or fixed telephonydevice, or a dedicated device. The device receives the content andpresents the content to the user, typically by playing the content. Thechannel may comprise a video channel or an audio channel or both.

The interactive receiver device 24 comprising an interface for allowinga user to interact with the content.

The channel is shown schematically at 26 and includes content 28 as wellas a label 30 which is broadcast with the content and superimposed onthe content. The label typically is of the same media type as thecontent, thus audio with audio or video with video, but alternativelycould be audio or subtitles superimposed on the video. The label invitesthe user to interact with the content in some way. The label is furthercombined with an interactive link 32 which comprises a digitalinstruction for the interactive receiver device. The digital instructioncontains handling information for the interactive receiver device toindicate to the receiver device how to handle a user interactioncoinciding with the label.

In use the channel is transmitted from the server over the medium 22 tothe user device, where the content is played. The interactive label,superimposed on the content, is played—as indicated by speech bubble 34for the audio case. Thus for example the user may be told to press the‘3’ button in order to see a particular action. The channel has providedto the user device the instruction as to what to do if the ‘3’ button ispressed at this point, and a change is made at the user device to thecontent flow. The change may involve changing a play sequence, orchanging a background or jumping a section, or even changing the volumeor brightness or screen size.

Other possibilities for affecting the play may include using channelcontent to affect further content, or directing the channel to deliverinternet content, or directing the channel to interact with anotherdevice such as a given telephone, or a given computer, and directing thechannel to interact with a navigational device. Thus for example thechannel may be an audio channel which is received on a mobile telephoneand then directed to a nearby surround sound audio system.

The navigation device can provide a location which can then be used tomodify play so that different regions or localities receive differentplay.

As will be explained below, the user response does not need to be thepressing of a particular key. Any available man-machine interface may beused, so that an audio interface may allow the user to recite the word“three” or whistle three times in order to achieve the same effect. A 3doptical interface may allow the user to show three fingers in aparticular gesture in order to achieve the effect, or to nod threetimes.

In an embodiment, the channel may include silent periods to allow thereceiving device to play additional content without having to losecontent of the original channel due to time-out.

The receiving device may buffer the channel so that any extra contentcan be played at any time before the silent period. Then the channel isbuffered until the silent period and then timing returns to normal.Buffering in this way allows a single silent period to be broadcast inthe main channel and yet permit different inserts at different points onthe basis of different interactions by different users.

Furthermore, since the meanings of the interactions can be superimposedon the content, the interactions can be defined for individualbroadcasts, or even redefined in real time during the playing of thecontent.

In an embodiment, a user client, which is a software module or ahardware device or a combination thereof, is distributed to recipientsof the channel. The client may be distributed either prior to or alongwith the content of the channel.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a similar channel distribution system is shownas that in FIG. 2 but here two channels 40 and 42 are broadcast. Theremaining features in FIG. 3 are the same as in FIG. 2, are given thesame reference numerals and are not described again except as necessaryfor an understanding of the present embodiment. One of the channels isthe main channel and the second is a subsidiary channel broadcastingsupporting material for the main channel. As needed there may be morethan one subsidiary channel. The user interaction in fact flips the playbetween the main and subsidiary channel. Different users interact indifferent ways so that they get different combinations of the main andsubsidiary channels as desired, and thus different users, interacting indifferent ways, may obtain different experiences from the sameone-to-many broadcast. It is also possible that a few main channelstogether share a few auxiliary channels. This sharing may be managed bya content management system or other means such as pre-broadcastcoordination or even real, or near real, time coordination.

The one or more subsidiary channels may be provided alongside the mainchannel for providing user selectable additional content. The userclient, if provided, may control content play to pass from the mainchannel to a corresponding subsidiary channel, from a subsidiary channelto a corresponding main channel, and between two subsidiary channels ofa shared main channel, so that considerable variation can be providedwithin such a one-to-many broadcast. If no user client is provided thenthe link 32 which is broadcast at a particular time, may containinstructions for the relevant play. Again, blank sections of the mainchannel can be used to ensure that users with different play paths canbe returned to the main channel timing even if not all play paths are ofthe same length. For users with shorter interaction times, or who do notinteract, patches of audio may be automatically inserted to cover thesilent periods.

The user client may return play to a main channel at the current playposition of the main channel. Alternatively the user may be returned tothe play position that the main channel had reached when the change wasmade to the auxiliary channel, so as not to miss any of the play of themain channel. The latter may be achieved by buffering the main channelat the receiving device. Alternatively some intermediate location may bereturned to, say if buffering capacity is exhausted. For such a case, aFIFO buffering scheme may be used.

Buffering may also be used in a different way to provide a content fastforward control and/or a content fast back control.

As mentioned, there may be provided a control to obtain content fromInternet addresses. A list of available internet addresses may bepreloaded. Alternatively, the addresses may be available at an indicatedlocation, and the location may be encoded in the broadcast over thechannel. As a further alternative, the locations may be obtained from aseparate device. For example a channel decoder may contain informationto enable the recipient to obtain particular Internet information. Thechannel decoder may send different users to different locations, forexample depending on a level of membership or the like.

The user's interaction may be used to select between or even provide anInternet address. The content of the Internet site may be presented indifferent ways, which may be defined by the user client.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4, which illustrates a channeldistribution system according to a further embodiment of the presentinvention. In FIG. 4, a channel source 50 provides a channel 52 carryingcontent. The content is played on user terminal device 54.

In this case, the label is not continuously broadcast, but rather isinitially provided, in that the user is given a code or gesture voicecommand or the like, -exemplary user interaction shown in bubble 56,which operates interactive receiver 58. Once set up, the command can beused at any time that the system is in operation. Interactive receiver58 samples the content and passes the sample to identification unit 60for identification. The identification unit returns an identification ofthe content to the user and provides an interface for allowing a user tointeract with the identified content. The interface may comprise aninteractive link provided alongside the content identification. Theinteractive link may include a digital instruction to the interactivereceiver device, to provide additional information regarding the contentupon interaction by the user. The additional information may includeadditional opportunities for interaction by the user.

In one example, the content is musical content, and the identificationunit 60 may identify the musical content and obtain additional contentbased on the identification. For example the additional content may be adownload file of the music or a download file of an associated musicvideo, or the history of the musical item or criticism or appreciationof the musical item.

In an embodiment, the identification unit obtains a sample of music,generates a signature from the sample, and submits the signature to amusic database, such as content database 62, for comparison withprestored signatures, in order to obtain the identification.

In another example, the content is associated with a provider, andidentification of the content comprises identifying the provider. Oncethe content is identified, the additional information may be madeavailable, which in such a case may be information from a provider. Suchan embodiment is particularly suitable for commercial advertising. Auser who is particularly interested in a product being advertised mayuse the gesture or code to interact and obtain further details orspecial offers etc. The same embodiment is particularly useful forproviding educational information or a broadcaster's schedulinginformation.

Reference is now made to FIG. 5, which is a simplified flow diagramshowing the operation of the embodiment of FIG. 4. A channeldistribution method comprising receiving content of a content channeland presenting to a user as shown in box 70. A first interactiveinterface is provided for a user to indicate interest in specificcontent, for example the user may press a particular key or keycombination, speak a command or make a predefined gesture-box 72. Uponreceipt of the indicated interest—box 74, the system identifies thecontent, box 76. An indication of the content may then be provided tothe user, for example the title of the song being played—box 78.

The user is then provided with a second interface, again this may be akey or key combination, a predefined gesture or a predefined sound orany other kind of person-computer interaction—box 80. The secondinterface may include an interactive link along with the identification,and the link may include a digital instruction to provide additionalinformation regarding the identified content. The user then operates theinterface, box 82 and the additional content is sent—box 84.

The identifying may involve obtaining a sample of the content,generating a signature from the sample, and submitting the signature toa music database for comparison in order to obtain the identification.

Alternatively, the content may be content associated with a particularcontent provider, so that the identifying part involves identifying theprovider. The additional information is then made available from theprovider, as discussed above.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention are now considered. The presentembodiments may extend the functionality of channel receiving devicesincluding radio receivers. Activation may be by any of: eye, hand, headmovements or gestures, touch, whether of the screen, a touch surface orpad, a car steering wheel button or similar device, mouse, voicecommand, whistle, airflow, head mounted helmet or other thoughtcapturing devices, and through very short range broadcast, including RF,infra-red or UV, or Bluetooth™ or ultrasound.

The functionality to be provided may include any combination of thefollowing capabilities:

1. Reacting to channel content in order to affect further content.2. Affecting channel operation such as on/off, channel, volume, quality,and delivery mode.3. Directing the channel to deliver Internet content such as headlines,articles and the like.4. Directing the channel to deliver educational material, such as MOOCScontent.5. Directing the channel to deliver content to/from a smart phonelocated nearby or remotely.6. Directing the channel to deliver content to/from a personal computerlocated nearby or remotely.7. Directing the channel to deliver content to/from a navigationaldevice.

The broadcast may contain identified segments that are holes or blank orsilent sections in the broadcast. A hole can be filled with localinformation such as feed from social networks, email or the web.

Such a hole may simply appear as a silent interlude if there is nocontent and the hole is reached or some default material may be providedto play during the interlude.

A hole can be placed at the end of a broadcast segment. Thus, if aninterrupting update arrives at a time prior to appearance of the hole,then the update can be voiced while the actual broadcast is recorded andtransmitted, the chunks being played after a suitable delay at thoseplayers who chose to hear the update. Thus the users hearing the updateuse the time of the hole at the end of the segment in the middle of thebroadcasted segment. Alternatively, the hole can be used for a one-tomany update played with the broadcast by adding the update at thesending end.

A listening component in a cellphone or similar device can be used torecord other interesting environmental sound snippets based on a list ofkeywords. The recorded snippets would usually contain entitydescriptions and access details such as phone numbers, web addresses,social networks access details and the like. An application on thedevice may be used either immediately (if so indicated via userpreferences or key words related preferences) or later on to present theitems and their contact details and enable the user to contact a desiredentity, for example via a phone call, an email message, a text messageor other means. Thus the user may be given a web or email address duringa telephone conversation and the component may identify and record theaddress as a snippet, so that the user can replay the snippet later andcontact the address, or write down the details when eventually finding apen and paper.

Capabilities

The following is a non-exhaustive list of capabilities enabled by makingthe channel content navigational.

Reacting to Channel Content in Order to Affect Further Radio Content

Certain portions of the broadcast may be marked for navigation asdiscussed above. The channel identity that is provided by such portionsmay be referred to as a broadcast link (BL). For example, certainbackground music may indicate such a portion. So, for example, theannouncer may say “for more details click now” with the background musicindicator. If the user reacts now (e.g., by touching the device surface,or button, or by outputting a short whistle or any of the other waysmentioned above), the channel may switch to a different channel, as perthe embodiment of FIG. 3, in which further details are provided. The BLmay be encoded in a music portion, may be explicitly provided via tones,such as telephone dial tones, or may be provided verbally—and decoded byspeech decoding software. The link may have a label part as above, whichis sensed during play and a digital part which tells the software whatto do. The digital part may be superimposed at a different frequency onthe current broadcast or may be on the other channel referred to above.Alternatively a separate digital channel may be provided for linkinformation which is separate from main and auxiliary content channels.

Physically, switching may be achieved in a variety of ways. If thechannel is broadcast based, the play device may switch to a differentfrequency. A satellite device will switch to a different channel. AnInternet device may obtain content from a different http source, and soon.

Once switching is executed, there may be further switching actions asfurther labels may be placed in the switched-to content. At some pointthere may be a return to the previous channel, which may be indicatedeither in response to an available action or without a label but usingone of the signalling methods referred to above to indicate a return tothe previous content, for example a double whistle or a short tap on thesurface, or a button push. Resumption to a previous channel may becarried out in two basic modes and variations in between, as explainedabove. One basic mode is to rejoin the channel at its current state ofprogress. Thus, the main channel continues broadcasting and theresumption is at the point the channel has now reached. A second basicmode is to join the channel at the point it was left. This may beachieved by buffering and/or by taking advantage of silent periods inthe broadcast. In cases where the second mode is not feasible, perhapsdue to unavailability of past content or because limits of bufferstorage of such content are exceeded, there may be a best-effort mode.

There may also be fast-forward and fast-backwards modes that can beassociated with any channel at any time, and again, such modes may beoperated using defined signals including any of the kinds mentionedabove.

Affecting Channel Operation Such as on/Off, Change-Channel, Volume,Quality, and Delivery Mode

All standard controls such as on/off, change-channel, volume control,image quality control, and delivery mode control, are provided instandard form as well as by the other interaction methods indicated,including sound, word command, touch, gesture, thought (e.g., asdetected via EEG or fMRI) etc.

Directing the Player Device to Deliver Internet Content Such asHeadlines, Articles and the Like

Delivery of Internet content may be achieved in a variety of ways:

1. Pre-defining Internet sites from which content may be presented. Thepre-definition may be (a) pre-supplied and/or (b) loaded from asmart-phone, a portable computer, a disk-on-key device, for example as alook up table or a look up file. The particular site for switching atany given interactive control may be indicated in a variety of ways.Thus a list of sites or their nicknames may be read by the device, and,in response, a word command may be given by the user, or the user mayclick or otherwise indicate a number on a screen or a keypad or bygesture or audibly.2. The user may signal a wish to switch to a site, and may then utter aword indicating the site or may react to a list of possibilities thatthe player provides.

Once switched, the content may be presented in a best-effort fashion.For example, a sound track is simply played (e.g., .wav files). Text isconverted to speech and spoken. The particular way in which a utilizedpage is to be presented may be called a style. The user can use adefault style, select a preferred style and also switch between styles.An example for a style for a news site may be to provide story headlinesfirst, and then provide one story at a time. One can navigate furtherbased on links available on the page. Here too, the way in which furtherlinks are presented may be style dependent.

One may go back to previous channels and/or pages as in the first itemon switching to and returning from channels.

Directing the Channel Player to Deliver Educational Material, Such asMOOCS Content

A special case is that of switching to educational material, such as anonline academic course. Each major provider (e.g., Coursera, Edx) hasits own common navigation possibilities. The available navigation may becoupled to signals that enable the channel user to navigate the materialin accordance with the present embodiments. It is noted that aneducational channel is simply another channel and the rules governingswitching to and returning from channels apply to educational channelsas well.

Directing the Channel Player to Deliver Content to and/or from aSmart-Phone Located Nearby or Remotely

The case of a nearby phone presents the possibility of introducing thetwo devices, channel player and smart-phone, and having themcommunicate, for example via Bluetooth. The coupling mode may bepredefined with a default mode in case no special mode is definedexplicitly. The channel player may look at the smart-phone as a channel,and may switch to the smart phone and be able to provide content such asmail messages, voice messages, instant messages, say from Viber, Skype,What's Up, and SMS, social updates from networks such as Facebook andTwitter, and/or also provide the content of a phone call or messengercall in loudspeaker mode.

The smart-phone may also be operated from the channel player. Forexample, commercial content may include a phone number with a backgroundmode indicating possible switching. By signalling the activation, theswitching takes place, the smart-phone calls the number and theconversation can be managed from the smart-phone or the channel player.The actual mechanism may involve dial tones that the channel playerproduces and the smart-phone application hears and converts to adialling action. Another possibility is the number is pronounced andvoice understanding software provides the number so as to allow thephone to dial accordingly.

If the smart-phone is remotely located, the channel player may havemeans for creating contact with the smart-phone. This can be done inagreed-upon web sites on which the phone deposits/reads contents.Additionally or alternatively, contact can be provided by contacting thesmart-phone directly; in this case the channel player can do it throughthe Internet or through a cellular network, in which case the channelplayer is a cellular network client. Additionally or alternativelycontact can be made via cable if the channel player has cable access.

Directing the Channel Player to Deliver Content to and/or from aPersonal Computer Located Nearby or Remotely

Directing content to or from a personal computer, laptop, notepad, palmtop, pod or like computing device, is similar to delivering content toor from a smart-phone, except that dialling is not an issue.

Directing the Channel Player to Deliver Content to/from a NavigationalDevice

As with the interface to a smart-phone, in this case a navigationaldevice, such as a GPS device with a navigation program, can be anotherchannel. The functionality may be in both directions. The navigationaldevice may provide content to be presented via the channel player, e.g.details of nearby restaurants. The channel player may feed data such asphysical addresses, say the location of a pizza store, to thenavigational device, and can then play navigation directions from thenavigation device directly or via a sound channel.

The navigational device may be a separate device or may be incorporatedinto the channel player.

Using Current Devices

The present embodiments may be implemented on existing devices by addingapplication programs to smart-phones and/or computers that decode sound(dial tones, verbal utterings etc). The scheme may also utilizeintelligent agents (e.g., Apple's Siri) on smart-phones and/orcomputers. For example, a special app on a smart-phone can be programmedto trigger on a special sequence of tones and then perform a telephonecall to the number indicated using a subsequent series of digit tones.In this case, no new hardware is needed to realize a basic operationalfunctionality.

Ordinary Car Radio

Two car radio buttons, 1 and 2, are pre-set to two FM stations(channels), say 107.5 (button 1) and 110.5 (button 2). 107.5 is theprimary channel and 110.5 is the auxiliary channel. The driver listensto a commercial that is broadcast on 107.5. A chime sound indicates thatfurther details are provided on 110.5. By simply pressing button 2, thedriver can listen to the extended offer description on 110.5.

A Cell Phone Application

A cell phone application records sounds from the environment. It keepsthose that are detected to have access details. A simple example is aradio announcement “you can buy a 2013 Buick with 20%, call 9145555050for details”. The application may retain the entry composed of: text(speech to text translation), the original audio, and the phone numberin textual form (again using speech to text translation). The user canlater on review the entries and decide whom to contact. Contacting maythen be achieved by, for example, double clicking on the phone number.Recording may also be carried out in public areas, e.g. a shoppingcenter. Recording may also be carried out at frequencies not audible tohumans, so that certain messages do not pollute the environment. Theuser can control what is being recorded by providing keywords whoseappearance triggers storage and/or presentation. Some keywords may beassociated with immediate action. Thus for example, anon-audible-frequency message may indicate an immediate sale on aparticular brand of soap at isle 4. If, for that user, a soap & salecombination triggers an immediate action, the user is now notified, saywith a special sound or device vibration.

Human Channels

A channel may be an actual human conversing. The human may be reachedvia the cellular network, cable, through a smart-phone, or a computer.

Functionality Built into a Television Set

All of the above functionality may be applied to a smart television set.In particular a visual screen can present visual channel switchingpossibilities. Switching can be activated as in the case of thededicated channel players referred to above. Visual channel switchingcan be activated by gesturing, focusing eyes on, direct touch orpointing through a remote control device. A television set may be cablebased, Internet based or based on other forms of communications such as3G.

Device with a Learning Component

The device described thus far may be equipped with a Learning Module(LM). The LM can record, study and learn from user behaviour. Forexample, if commercials dealing with concert offerings usually result inchannel switching for the user, such switching may be done automaticallywithout user directive. Such automatic activity may be controlled bysetting different modes of operation to enabled, disabled or partiallyenabled states. The LM may also track the behaviour of multiple distinctusers, say using log-in type identification or using voice orfingerswipes or image based identification. The LM can also deduce userinterest or lack thereof from negative behaviour, namely, switching fora very brief time period and returning during manual operation but alsoduring automatic operation. The LM may thus keep track of other userrelated operations and present options that are likely to be interestingto the user. Further, the LM may connect, via a SIM card, a nearby cellphone or other means, to a centralized facility for tracking andevaluating users' behaviours, individually and as a group. Such afacility may interact with a Content management System such as thatdescribed hereinbelow.

Affecting Personalized Radio or TV

It is possible that the channel on which the user listens is uniquelyproduced for her. Nevertheless, the interaction capabilities may stillallow switching to alternative content. The alternative content maysimply replace what was supposed to be on the channel had no interactiontook place. Alternatively, the original channel may continue playing orremain idle while the user is switched to a different channel for thealternative content.

Some Technical Aspects

One aspect of the presently described technology involves indicating thepossible switching. There are a number of ways in which such indicationsmay be provided:

1. In broadcasting (e.g., SW, MW, LW, FM, AM):a. Prior to, or directly after, a background music indication orannouncement or like indication, the system may broadcast encodednumbers indicating the channel type and its characteristics.b. Prior to or in parallel with the announcement etc, the system maybroadcast the numbers indicating the channel type and itscharacteristics on a different agreed-upon twin channel. As discussedabove, the twin channel may be the same as a channel carrying auxiliarycontent, or may be a dedicated digital channel.c. The system may have some of the indication itself encode theswitching numbers, for example tones as in tone dialling may be audiblyencoded.d. The system may use ordinary speech, which necessitates speechunderstanding software on connected devices and/or the channel playeritself.2. In Satellite and Cable Channels, solutions may be used which aresimilar to those of broadcasting channels.3. Internet Channels. To access Internet Channels the channel playerneeds an Internet connection. The may be provided via wi-fi, cable, 3Gservice (sim), and hotspot. Once provided, the channel to switch to caneasily be indicated numerically or alphanumerically.

A Content Management System (CMS)

A content management system (CMS) may manage the broadcast over a numberof channels and enable switching among them in order to provide linksfor alternative content. In an embodiment, the alternative content isprovided in real time or near real time, meaning that the alternativecontent can be selected or changed shortly before or even during thebroadcast.

The CMS may, in one embodiment, manage a sales force to handle thegenerated customer traffic. Thus, it may dynamically change the providedBLs.

The CMS can also allocate different BLs to different channel playersbased on an internally recorded identifier of the particular channelplayer, or on the profile of a logged in or otherwise identified user.The channel player may additionally or alternatively add its ownidentity to the BL, prior to presenting to the user, so as to create aseemingly random or personalized new channel assignment. Randomizationcan provide for load balancing, for example on the human channelsreferred to above, that may be provided using a BL which is a phonenumber.

Scenarios

The following is a non-exhaustive list of usage scenarios. Otherscenarios will become apparent to those versed in the art.

Scenario 1: Details about a Commercial Offering

An announcer in a commercial over AM radio says “ . . . for furtherdetails on this great car offer click now”. At this point there is ashort music section followed by a sequence of tones encoding a differentfrequency. The user taps the radio surface or an unused radio button,for example the CD fast forward button). Channel switching takes place,and details concerning the car offer are announced as an alternativeplay of the channel. At the end of the portion, the user may be providedoptions. For example, one of the options may be “double tap to return”.Assuming the device is set to a mode for rejoining the main channel inreal time, upon a double tap the original channel broadcast resumes.Interrupting options may also be available throughout the broadcast ofthe alternative material. Thus assuming a default in which a double tapbrings back the previous play, the user can escape back and join theoriginal channel by performing a double tap.

Scenario 2: Further Navigation

Continuing scenario 1, the new content may include the possibility offurther navigation. For example, financing the apartment purchase maydepend on the user's bank. The announcer may present possibilities tomove to bank A (single tap) or bank B (double tap). The announcer mayalso present a list of banks with the opportunity for a single tap afterthe right name is announced.

Scenario 3: Actually Contacting a Salesperson by Feeding a Number toCall

The announcer in a commercial over AM radio says “ . . . for furtherdetails on this great car offer contact a salesperson now”. At thispoint there is a short music section followed by a sequence of tonesencoding a phone number. The user's smart-phone is provided the numbervia Bluetooth or some other connection mode or via a listeningmicrophone. Should the user indicate interest (a tap say), the numbermay be dialled and the user may consequently connect to the salespersonvia the smart-phone. Such a connection may also be made directly to thedialler of an ordinary traditional phone that has suitable computingability, or a similar DECT type device.

Scenario 4: Viewing More Details on a Web Site

The announcer in a commercial over AM radio says “ . . . for furtherdetails on this great car offer view details now”. At this point thereis a short music section followed by a sequence of tones encoding aphone number or an actual verbal expression of the web site. Should theuser indicate switching to the web site, there are variouspossibilities. One is to decipher the web address and feed it to aconnected computer or smart-phone, where the content may be viewed.Another is to have the channel player approach the web site and displaythe approached web site in a predetermined mode or a dynamicallydetermined mode or style. The style may also be provided by the web siteitself.

Choosing between the alternatives may involve using a pre-set or defaultmode of operation, or soliciting user's instructions.

Scenario 5: Interfacing to a Navigational Device

The announcer introduces “ . . . this great Pizza place on Elminda, towhich you can navigate by clicking”, then music. Upon tapping (orwhistling, or some other agreed upon indication), the address is fedinto the navigational device that starts a navigation session to thedesired address.

Scenario 6: Switching to a Human Channel

Switching to a human channel is similar to scenario 1 above. Here thechannel that is switched to is an actual human being in real-time, say areporter. The human being may provide real-time first-hand information,say about the number of people in line at a particular location. Thereporter may receive actual directions from the user if the channel is abi-directional communication. Bi-directional channels may be implementedusing a SIM card installed in the channel player, or alternatively maybe set up over an Internet link.

Scenario 7: Cell-Phone/Computer Collecting BLs for Future Use

An application on a cell-phone or computer that is positioned next tothe channel player or television set appliance, or perhaps directly, orvia Bluetooth, connected to the appliance, or may even be included in anapplication running on the channel player. During broadcast, theapplication listens and collects BLs. If the user is interested in anitem that was broadcast, the user can at any time leaf through thecollected BLs and direct the cell-phone to the channel, or feed back thechosen BL to the channel player and let the channel player switch to thechosen channel.

In this way a smart phone may listen to a broadcast and be ready withcontact numbers when needed.

Scenario 8: Cell-Phone/Computer Using BLs

Continuing scenario 7, the listening cell-phone or computer has anidentifier, that identifier may be mentioned in a BL. This mechanism maybe used in game shows, raffles and other events where a listening userwins a prize for being a listener. This may be used to increase audiencesize. Upon winning a switch to a channel declaring the prize may beperformed.

List of Specific Features and Implementations

The following is a summary of different features and implementations ofan interactive channel broadcast system and a channel player accordingto the present embodiments.

1. A voice-channel-based device or system for data exploration andintegration providing the capability of switching among broadcastchannels based on broadcast links (BLs).2. Switching may be effected via voice, touch, tap, thought, air flow,gesture, or eye movement. The tap may involve a currently unusedinterface button or a button specifically provided for the purpose.3. During a broadcast, the BLs may point to a new channel, may beindicated by special music, special tones, a music encoding of the newchannel, dial tone encoding, verbal expression of a new channelidentity, or a short range broadcast.4. Upon switching to a new channel based on the BL, the user may beprovided with the ability to switch back to the original channel, eitherat any time or at specific times.5. Upon switching to a new channel based on the BL, the user may beprovided with further options of navigating to new channels.6. A new channel feed may be provided, say by a still camera or a videocamera.7. A possible voice-channel source is radio transmission.8. A possible voice or video channel is an Internet site.9. A possible voice or video channel may involve a smart-phone.10. A possible voice or video channel may involve a computer.11. A disk-on-key or other storage device may provide a voice or videochannel.12. A possible voice-channel is a music-storing device.13. The channel player may exchange data with a navigational device forperforming navigation and providing local information.14. The device can be a dedicated device or alternatively may beimplemented in software on a computer or smart-phone.15. The device may receive input and\or output via very short rangebroadcast.16. The very short range broadcast may be Bluetooth, or may useinfra-red, or RF microwave or UV, or ultrasound as transmission media.17. The device may receive input via a disk-on-key or optical disk orover the Internet or from a preparatory broadcast. Such input may beused to set an operating mode or download a user client.18. The device may have a number of modes of operation.19. The user may retain a default mode or select a preferred mode ofoperation.20. The device may generate a phone call via a smart-phone and thecellular network, via a SIM card, or via a land-line phone or via theinternet.21. The device may set up a bidirectional link.22. The broadcast system may manage a broadcast on a number of channelsand enable switching between the channels to provide the interactivecontent.23. The system may manage a sales force to handle generated customertraffic.24. The device may have a hands-free mode.25. A human may provide the content of a channel in real-time, say as away of providing up to date reports.26. The device may be a dedicated channel player.27. The device may be a television set with suitable added capabilities.28. The device may be a computer with a suitable user client.29. The device may use visual links and touching or pointing, or aremote control device may be used to switch channels.30. Pon switching, resumption of the original channel is available.31. The resumption may be to the current time content.32. The resumption may be back to the content being played at theoriginal switching time so that none of the main channel is missed.33. The resumption may be to an intermediate time between the switchingpoint and the current time, for example when more content would need tobe buffered than there is capacity.34. The channel may comprise fast forward and/or backwards capabilities.35. The channel switching may be realized on existing devices, say byadding application programs to smart-phones and/or computers and/ortelevision devices that have the necessary computing abilities. Thedevices may be required to decode sound (dial tones, verbal utterings)although this is not essential.36. The channel player may utilize intelligent agents (e.g., Apple'sSifi) on smart-phones and/or computers.37. The system may assign the BLs depending on the identity of theplayer or the logged in user. Such assignment can be used to separateuser populations into sub-populations of 1 or more.38. A cell-phone or computer may collect broadcast BLs from on-goingbroadcasts, for subsequent consideration. Thus a user may watch orlisten to a channel and then obtain a list of links or phone numbers forfurther investigation. This also applies to collecting messages inpublic places such as halls, cinemas, schools, airports, hospitals,train or bus stations, etc.39. The system may use a collected BL directly to switch to a channel,for example to provide a magazine type program providing different userswith respective local information.40. The system may provide players or cell-phones or computers with anidentifier which may match a BL.41. The system, may use an identifier to identify winners in interactivegame shows or competitions or raffles or promotional campaigns or thelike where users may participate from home.42. The user may pre-set the device so that switching to a differentchannel occurs automatically upon BL detection.43. The user may pre-set the device so that returning to the originalchannel occurs automatically following the end of a given portion on thesecondary channel.44. The user may pre-set the device so that a user indication mayoverride automatic switching.45. The device may be connected to a vehicle radar or any other kind ofproximity alerting system. Then, switching to system accident alerts maytake place as a secondary channel switch.46. The device may be programmed so that when switching occurs, thecontent played on the original channel is such that the user is ready tomiss.47. The programming on the primary channel may take into account apossible switch and arrange for content, during the time switched, suchthat the user is likely not to care about missing it. For example, acommercial for assisted living may be followed with a piece on collegeeducation so that when the user switches to hear more about assistedliving it is likely that what he misses is not relevant for him.48. The system may switch winners to a channel carrying specific winnerscontent while other users are switched to other content.

It is expected that during the life of a patent maturing from thisapplication many relevant user interfaces and broadcasting methods andsystems will be developed and the scopes of the corresponding terms areintended to include all such new technologies a priori.

The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “includes”, “including”, “having”and their conjugates mean “including but not limited to”.

The term “consisting of” means “including and limited to”.

As used herein, the singular form “a”, “an” and “the” include pluralreferences unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

It is appreciated that certain features of the invention, which are, forclarity, described in the context of separate embodiments, may also beprovided in combination in a single embodiment, and the abovedescription is to be construed as if this combination were explicitlywritten. Conversely, various features of the invention, which are, forbrevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also beprovided separately or in any suitable subcombination or as suitable inany other described embodiment of the invention, and the abovedescription is to be construed as if these separate embodiments wereexplicitly written. Certain features described in the context of variousembodiments are not to be considered essential features of thoseembodiments, unless the embodiment is inoperative without thoseelements.

Although the invention has been described in conjunction with specificembodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modificationsand variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art.Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives,modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and broad scopeof the appended claims.

All publications, patents and patent applications mentioned in thisspecification are herein incorporated in their entirety by referenceinto the specification, to the same extent as if each individualpublication, patent or patent application was specifically andindividually indicated to be incorporated herein by reference. Inaddition, citation or identification of any reference in thisapplication shall not be construed as an admission that such referenceis available as prior art to the present invention. To the extent thatsection headings are used, they should not be construed as necessarilylimiting.

It is the intent of the applicant(s) that all publications, patents andpatent applications referred to in this specification are to beincorporated in their entirety by reference into the specification, asif each individual publication, patent or patent application wasspecifically and individually noted when referenced that it is to beincorporated herein by reference. In addition, citation oridentification of any reference in this application shall not beconstrued as an admission that such reference is available as prior artto the present invention. To the extent that section headings are used,they should not be construed as necessarily limiting. In addition, anypriority document(s) of this application is/are hereby incorporatedherein by reference in its/their entirety.

What is claimed is:
 1. An application for a user portable device, theapplication comprising: a recording unit configured to recordenvironmental sounds; an identification unit associated with saidrecording unit and configured to identify access information frombroadcast sources recorded among said environmental sounds; and aninteraction unit for allowing interaction with a respective broadcastsource corresponding to identified access information.
 2. Theapplication of claim 1, wherein said interaction unit is configured foruser interaction at said user portable device with said broadcastsource.
 3. The application of claim 1, wherein said interaction unit isconfigured for remote interaction with said broadcast source.
 4. Theapplication of claim 1, wherein said access information is an audiblesignal embedded in said respective broadcast source.
 5. The applicationof claim 1, wherein said access information is an inaudible signalembedded in said respective broadcast source.
 6. The application ofclaim 1, wherein said interaction unit is configured to present to auser textual information relating to said respective broadcast source.7. The application of claim 1, wherein said interaction unit isconfigured to present, to a user, contact information relating to saidrespective broadcast source.
 8. The application of claim 7, furthercomprising a learning unit for learning from said user interactionsabout preferred user content.
 9. The application of claim 1, whereinsaid interaction unit is configured to allow entry by a user ofkeywords, said keywords defining storage or presentation of content fromsaid broadcast sources associated with identified access information.10. A method of interacting with broadcast content, the broadcastcontent being played on receiving devices; the method comprising:inserting access information into said broadcast content; listening at auser portable device to environmental sound; at said user portabledevice identifying said access information of said broadcast contentfrom said environmental sound; using said access information to identifysaid broadcast content; and interacting with said broadcast content. 11.The method of claim 10, wherein said interacting is carried out at saiduser portable device.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein saidinteracting is carried out remotely of said user portable device. 13.The method of claim 10, wherein said access information is an audiblesignal embedded in said respective broadcast content.
 14. The method ofclaim 10, wherein said access information is an inaudible signalembedded in said respective broadcast content.
 15. The method of claim10, comprising presenting, to a user, contact information relating tosaid respective broadcast content, said contact information beingactivatable contact information capable of establishing contact throughsaid user portable device.
 16. The method of claim 10, comprisinginputting keywords, and using said keywords to trigger storage orpresentation of content from said broadcast sources associated withidentified access information.
 17. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising learning from said user interactions to identify preferredcontent of a given user.
 18. A system comprising: an application for auser portable device, the application comprising: a recording unitconfigured to record environmental sounds; and an identification unitassociated with said recording unit and configured to identify accessinformation from broadcast sources recorded among said environmentalsounds; and an interaction unit for allowing interaction with arespective broadcast source corresponding to identified accessinformation.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein said interaction unitis configured for remote interaction with said broadcast source.
 20. Thesystem of claim 18, further comprising a learning unit for learning fromsaid user interactions about preferred user content.